Article by Pat Schrawder
HOW TO PREPARE FOR THE OFF SEASON
There is still a lot of good fall fishing left but the fact remains that many of you will soon be putting your boats away until next year. There are things you can do and should do, when it comes to your electronic items, that will help protect and preserve them for next year.
Unless your equipment is flush mounted, you do not want to leave anything on your boat that can reasonably be removed. Therefore, all major display items should be taken off, cleaned and stored away in a closet or other dry location.
Even if your boat is in dry storage, unless it is climate controlled, the temperature variations will cause some moisture to develop. The plugs and connections that are left on the boat should be sprayed with some anti-corrosion chemical ( I prefer CRC 2-26) and bagged. It is a good idea to mark these connections. Some of them may be unique to their own item of equipment, but several others are quite similar if not identical. This is especially true when it comes to antenna connectors. While you may think you know perfectly well what goes to where now, when it comes to next year, it may not be so clear in your mind. An easy way to do this is to wrap the ends with colored electrical tape available at most hardware stores. Put the corresponding color on the case of the equipment and, when it comes time to hook them back up, you just match the colors. Since power plugs that look the same may not be wired the same, getting them mixed up can be costly.
While you’ve got that anti-corrosion chemical out, use it or plain old Vaseline to coat the metal brackets and fittings on your boat. It will easily wash off next year and, in the meantime, it will protect that metal from becoming dull and developing surface corrosion that can bleed off on your white surfaces.
If you can manage it, remove your batteries and store them in your garage on cardboard or paper. Putting them directly on concrete will allow them to drain down. The battery posts should be coated with a substance made just for batteries.
If your equipment is flush mounted, it may be impractical to remove it and it will be relatively safe from theft. However, it is not protected from the harsh temperature and moisture changes that occur over the course of the fall and winter. You need to protect it from rain and snow as much as possible. This can be accomplished with plastic and tape, if needed. Remember that equipment which is advertised as waterproof will still maintain its new look better if you keep it from overexposure to the elements. The plugs should still be removed from the equipment, sprayed and bagged if at all possible.
If you have been considering upgrading some of your equipment, do it now! Don’t let it sit in your house or on your boat over the winter and then decide to unload it next year. It will be older, will look worse and will have devalued itself considerably. Trying to sell old equipment is difficult at best but it’s almost impossible as it ages more and more.
Expect to hear more about high definition equipment as it relates to radar and fish finders. The computer world and the marine electronics field have definitely merged so more and more computer type software is appearing in marine electronics items.
Whatever they are, you can be certain that new items will emerge over the winter which may make your current equipment obsolete or less desirable. As you get into the months of January and February, there will be new items and there will be several boat shows. That is a good time to buy new equipment as it is usually sold at a special discount during a show. Ocean City holds its Seaside Boat Show on President’s Day weekend in mid-February. This show is a sellout every year. Don’t forget to look for it.
Pat Schrawder and her husband Larry are owners of L&L Marine Electronics on Golf Course Road in West Ocean City.
